Café Con Monica

63 Days till Christmas?

Do you ever find yourself wondering where has the time gone?

Yesterday, a friend said to me “Christmas is in 64 days and I have so much to do.” I just stood there a bit shocked. How did it get to be that close to the end of the year?

Don’t worry I wasn’t mad at her for talking about Christmas before Halloween. I get it.

My concern is: where has the time gone?

I don’t know about you but I feel like I am so busy planning. Planning what we are doing next weekend, next month, my blog posts, my social media posts, travel and all this without children. Let’s not even get started on work.

I use the hell out of my planner!

I am always looking to what is coming and not spending enough time just enjoying the moment.

Sure, I enjoy the moments as they are happening but if I stop and think about how much of my life revolves around what comes next. It’s kind of scary.

I am excited for the holidays and I love planning things but I think this is really going to be a big goal for me in 2020. (as I talk to you about living in the moment I am planning a goal for next year)

I think it’s important to simply slow down and I want to explore more ways to make that happen in my life.

Do you ever feel this way? What do you do to help slow down?

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Fall Bucket List Ideas

Sharing some great Fall Bucket List ideas this week since Monday was the official first day of Autumn!

I have a confession….I love summer and heat. But I can appreciate the beauty of fall too. I also love doing all the cutesy seasonal things that are available to make up my fall bucket list while wear more comfy clothes and pretty scarves.

Happy Fall Ya’ll!

There is plenty of fall bucket list fun going on around this time of year that can be found wherever you live!

Visit a Pumpkin Patch

I love love Pumpkin Patches! Every year for what feels like forever my family has gone to Bengston’s Pumpkin Patch in the suburbs of Chicago. They have grown so much over the years that is has been cool to see. They have great Instaworthy areas for photos too!

Now that I am in Austin I am excited to check out the pumpkin patches they have here like Barton Hill Farms & Sweet Berry Farm to take all the coupled up pumpkin pictures with AJS.

If you aren’t in Chicago or Austin then you can check out this list of the Top 15 US Pumpkin Patches in the US!

Go to a State Fair

State fairs are a great way to bring in the Autumn season and enjoy a lot of local and even eclectic foods and music. I didn’t get to the Texas State Fair last year but I will make it happen this fall. It’s apparently very big, because of course, Everything is bigger in Texas!

Check out this list of 2019 State Fairs to see if there is to add to your Fall Bucket list near you!

Tailgate

Fall = Football, am I right? We are not big college football fans but when in Rome. With UT Being right here in Austin we think it would be a great time to take advantage of some tailgate fall fun! Don’t worry though, we are Chicago Bears fans till death!

If you love a good day of football you can add Tailgating to your Fall Bucket List by checking out your local team NFL or College team schedule!

Make Fall Foods

You know what goes great with a good tailgate on a crisp fall day?

Chili

Check out my very delicious and meaty 2 Bean Chili Recipe!

I love baking and this is a time of year to bake some delicious cinnamony (is this a word?) desserts! Some of my favorite kinds are:

Carve a Pumpkin

Are you one of those people who gets creative with your carving or are you like me and need a stencil because otherwise you will get a Pinterest fail? We love carving pumpkins so we make a night of it, cover everything in plastic, plan out our designs and try not to cut off any fingers in our attempts at beauty.

Here are some great tips to keep your carved pumpkin fresh for longer!

Oktoberfest

I love a good Ocktoberfest even though I don’t drink beer. If you are like me please know they can still be a lot of fun! I’m a fan of trying German foods and enjoying the music and atmosphere.

On this list of the 10 Best Oktoberfest in the US I found out there is a great one about an hour outside of Austin in Fredericksburg! We hope to check that one out.

Walk through the woods

After listing all the ways you can stuff your face and drink your way through Autumn I can’t fail to mention that a great item for your Fall Bucket List is to just take a walk and check out the leaves. The beautiful colors of the leaves changing is one of the best things about fall!

Scary Movie Marathon

Alright, here is the thing. I am a big baby I can’t handle super scary movies and absolutely nothing with ghosts. BUT I do love some of the old faithfuls like Halloween & Scream. But also I am happy to watch the cute “scary” movies like Casper and Adams Family! We also can’t forget Hocus Pocus!

If you aren’t sure where to start with your movie marathon, check out this list of of the 52 Best Halloween Movies!

Decorate Everything

One of the best Fall Bucket List items? Decorating! All the pretty oranges and reds and then you get to add some Halloween decor too! We love to decorate but I don’t like to have a lot of stuff that needs to be stored all year so we try to do the most with what we get. I have to ban myself from Target & Michael’s around this time of year.

Do you decorate?

If you love everything fall decor but prefer not to spend excess pennies check out these great posts on for fall decor on a budget!

and more….

I’d be remiss to not mention Pumpkin Spice right? I am not a PSL person but I look forward to the Salted Caramel Mocha coming out so much! There is just so much you can add to your fall bucket list that I could probably go on forever.

What are your Fall Bucket List Ideas? Comment and share!

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Currently August & Favorites!

I can’t believe it is the last week of August! I thought it would be a good time to do a Currently and my August Favorites post!

Reading || All the books!

Watching || I have finally started to catch up on Handmaids Tale. AJS & I binged the show In the Dark and we loved it. It definitely qualifies as an August Favorite!

Wearing || Back to work so back to wearing more than a swimsuit or summery dress. One of my faves for back to school clothes is this adorable dress I got at the Loft Outlet. It is light weight so its perfect for standing in carpool in the mornings and will look cute with tights & booties in the fall/winter.

Eating || I was doing my normal IG browsing the other night and I saw a a video for Avocado Carbonara pasta and it looked so delicious! We both enjoyed it so much I plan to add it to our go – to recipes. I used Ripple half & half in place of cream and Go Veggie Parmesan since I can’t have dairy.

Drinking || So much water. I found myself dehydrated a few times this summer. So I have been drinking a ton of water the last two weeks and adding drops, drinking Hints and so much sparkling water . I found a new flavor! Grape Waterloo Sparkling Water is my life now. It tastes like Grape soda without the sugar or calories.

Doing|| I have been cleaning up & replacing the last month. I did another hard push through my closet for anything that was left that I still didn’t wear this summer. I think it is a good idea for me to do this after every season. At this point Ive done a year cleanse so if I still haven’t worn it through another season it needs to go. I’ve replaced some clothes that either didn’t fit anymore or were starting to look shabby. I donated anything kinda new or gently worn to a local woman I met on IG who does pop ups with thrift clothes for her non-profit organization and the rest went to goodwill.

Indulging || In every little bit of time in the sun outside of work I can get. I know everyone is ready for fall and I get it, I love the season too but it is the hottest time of the year in Austin and I am absolutely loving it. I want to be outside as much as I can even if its just sitting on my patio drinking and laying in the hammock!

Anticipating || Another great school year! The start of my own school classes. Working on my goals for the next year and working on saving!

Loving || OOh I love the heat we all know that. But I am also loving a few things….

  • These Bamboo makeup remover pads. I hate using the throw away cotton ones because 1. they hurt and 2. I throw away so many.
  • This new Tarot set. After seeing Steph’s post I made a joke about how my set wasn’t vibing with me anymore and I realized its very true and so it finally prompted me to get a new set. Its going to take some time but so far I am making progress!
  • 40% at Old Navy. Gets me everytime. I got a couple new work dresses and I love loved the way this one looks!

Ok so to sum it all up. I’ve spent a lot of time in the outside and I’ve shopped! Haha what are you currently up to?

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